VIDEO: Calsonic Nissan R32 GT-R on Fuji Raceway

By Louis Cordony, 11 Sep 2017News

Michael Caruso’s Altima will hit the upcoming Sandown 500 with ‘Calsonic’ printed down its flanks. But there is only one blue-and-white touring car that gives us shivers at full noise.

The Calsonic R32 GT-R was the most successful example of a dominant species. And thanks to the recent Nismo festival in Japan, it was wheeled out for old time’s sake on Fuji Raceway for a punt in front of adoring fans.

With a very, very long circuit at Fuji, someone also cleverly stuck a GoPro inside the thing to give us a fist-hand view of Kazuyoshi Hoshino at work on the six-speed dog ’box.

Team Impul won over half the Japanese touring car races entered with their baby blue R32. That’s 15 wins from 29 starts. And Hoshino was the only driver involved with every one of them. No wonder his heel and toe’s pretty good.

Did we mention the car’s final race was on the very track it’s screaming around in this video? Yep, this is as nostalgic for Japanese race fans as Skaife popping around Bathurst in the Gibson Motorsport’s car would be for us today.

Of course the big appeal of the Calsonic GT-R, or any other R32 from the era, is their loose relation to what Nissan had in its showroom.

No punter would have been able to replicate the crushing pace of these cars around a circuit, but its low-tech aero package, gutted interior, and engine were easily mimicked.